I can't think of a witty title, so here is July's Frugaleer Thread! All welcome.

[Cagliostro]

Hello :)

Thank you for the kind words Collie. I come from a family of mathematicians, accountants and frugaleering wizards and I'm going to be gently but persuasively minced for this one. Eeek!

I can't imagine not missing £250 every month I barely get paid that I'm assuming it should be fairly easily rectified though and you should get your money back. What a hassle for you though.

So you haven't lost £21K then? At least this chap is an honest sort.

Glad it's not as bad as you thought ipso! Hopefully you should get the money back now!

Welcome dwinnol

Gah. Ds isn't allergic to shampoo he has nits, as does dd. They don't look anything like I imagined.

Oh no life. Conditioner and combing every night I'm amazed we've so far for through two years of primary school with no nits.

Hi all just catching up.

Ipsos oh my days!!

Collie that solicitor sounds weird, we haven't even got a date for Brexit yet (I am crossing everything that it might never happen anyway ) your reasons for moving are very very good ones so I think you need to go for it.

I am totally knackered after working 5 days on the trot I take my hat off to anyone who works full time. Am happy to say that that is it for 2 and a bit weeks now so ready for a rest. Dd had a day at the high ropes holiday club and loved it so that was good.

Spends
ystd 45p on a bottle of water
today £7.50 on a Subway (dds choice for tea!)

wreck I know it must sound weird. We're very lucky really. All this does explain why I haven't been breaking even though.

oh no the dreaded nits! I really rate Vosene shampoo/spray for preventing them, it's all we use now. DCs never had nits while at school (so 4 years) despite outbreaks in their classes. I got a bit complacent when they came out of school, and stopped using it... we all got nits when the neighbours did. We use regular conditioner but for shampoo it's Vosene all the way, and the spray as a detangler pretty much daily.

OMG Ipsos. Wow, what a situation. Glad you have it sorted. Does that mean that you have a lot less in your pension though now? Or was that a savings account.

I have friends (both doctors, married) that paid house insurance on a house they moved from when then moved here for 6 years, both thought the other knew what it was. I also have a life assurance payment of £12 pcm that I 'think' I know what it is, but they change their damn names so often, it's hard to keep track. All I know is, if I found a fool proof way to bump off DH, I would be here in this villa on my sun lounger for the rest of my days

Welcome dwinnol. DH is a fritterer, always buying a Costa on the way to work, will always say yes if someone goes to the sandwich shop. Myself and the DC eat stuff from home. It's very easy to do. Could you stand to take, say, £3.00 for emergencies out with you?

Thinking of August frugal goals.

• Buy an item of clothing for each of us. Sounds unfrugal, but I have had a very hefty bill for clothes for all of us, having decided not to buy any clothes, to be frugal
• Sell 2 items on Ebay.
• Switch energy suppliers. Technically not due until September, but they can't levy charges at this stage.
• Try to stop the popping into M&S for a few naice bits, too easy to spend £20.
• Keep the spending up to date.
• Start a bit of Christmas shopping items. Even if it's just some good wine to stash away.

Hedrin or anything with dimeticone is only recommended headlice treatment now.

Great frugal win today got a voucher for free birthday meal (not til mid mth) from taste rewards at our local table table (2mins walk) and it used to be with another main meal nothing on t&c this time other than not on lunch menu take ds1 today kids eat for 1.99 2 course and ask about vpucher she asks manager he says yep completely free of main menu so I had free steak Diane and chips it was bloody gorgeous - I then had chic Brownie and ice cream, inc drinks I paid £7 :)

Also had first hair cut of the yr not done since Xmas couldn't find Groupon deal locally with availability when I could to so used a home hair dresser nice 19yr old girl she fif message me to change from 12 til 2 but was £15 he did a good enough job and saved me trip which I hate anyway

Well done on the meal East, bargain indeed.

Collie. Think logically and reasonably. Brexit is going to have an affect, but we have no idea what affect that will be. Our own business is snowed under, and we sell to all manner of customers, from small business to multi national plcs. The oil price is having far more of an affect than Brexit. If house prices crash, then the house you buy will therefore be consequently cheaper too. It's far too soon to tell.

Phew Girlie, enjoy the lack of working. House moves are stressful and tiring too. How's DD enjoying it?

iPsos I once paid gas and electricity for a year after leaving the company. I have failed to cancel many an insurance policy and in the past could quite easily have failed to notice these things. I didn't realise my husband was paying a few hundred a year for a ridiculous membership of a professional body till this year. Easily done. Thank goodness they worked it out.

Spends

Shower cream €1.47
Pack of 50 envelopes €2

They seem to have discontinued my favourite shower cream . I'm a creature of habit - it stresses me out having to choose a new one

north very glad your burst blood vessel wasn't so serious. Take care

ipso I thought you were in for a bit of a windfall when I read your first post about the monthly payments. However, I think the money was exiting your account, failing to lodge into the 'savings' account and then returning to your normal account. Do I have that right? Then the savings account number was re-assigned to another customer who reported these mysterious lodgements arriving into his account. At least he was honest.

North: take care and get plenty of rest
Wreck: hope your dd feels better soon.
Nsd today, been with friends and their ds all day, so nice and the kids plays so well together.
Baby dd is very little so the doc is recommending some more scans so will get the dates next week for the scans.
Will go and have a read trough now

Ipso: what a horrible discovery. Does it mean that the money bounced back to your account or fell between no mans land. Nice of the guy to complain to your bank
Both of you should complain higher up, in Denmark we have a complain board covering all financial institutions and we can complain that way and this is would defn be a winning case

Hi dwinnol. Welcome

ipsos what a nightmare, glad it seems to be being sorted.
collie what odd behaviour from the solicitor, go for it, improve your quality of life

I've had a couple more visitors today which breaks up the boredom. The house resembles florist shop with cards everywhere too. Lovely to know so many people care. Dh is going back to work tomorrow, his manager has been great and given him special leave. I feel okay to be on my own now so it's good timing.

Meal plan so far:
Yesterday Ham salad
Today Spaghetti with sausagemeat balls& tomato sauce
Thurs Scone dough pizzas
Friday Burgers at cricket nets
Saturday. Chicken curry
Sunday Gammon, potatoes & veg
Not sure beyond that.

Got all the insurance claim documents uploaded today for the holiday cancellation, so fingers crossed we'll hear soon. Getting excited for Cornwall now.

Good luck Ipso your story is terrifying but I coo so imagine it happening quite easily. If the chap receiving the money has raised this then I imagine he's a decent chap and this will be resolved for you? Fingers crossed anyway.

Fluffy eating out has been knocked on the head for a while. DC are 11 and 14 so no kids meal options. And they don't appear to notice what those little numbers on the menus mean either - "I'll have the duck please mum"

Oh my God, Ipsos! Hope you get it back ,and with interest. Has it taken this long for this man to realise that it is not his money. Anyway, at least you know now and can sort it.
DGD has come to stay and I exhausted already and she is here for 10 days. Little brother coming in a few days too.

That's a relief about the money.
Pleased they are looking after you Italian.

Got hedrin for both dc on the minor ailments from sainsburys after body pump. Will treat them tomorrow as dd is at a sleepover tomorrow night typically

Sorry I wrote my last message ages ago and appeared to have just sent it? Not sure what I did there?
Hello and thanks to everyone who he welcomed me.
So glad to hear you are going to get this sorted Ipso.

Thanks What and need. I'm so glad it's not just me.

tayto yes that's right so I'm only £750 out of pocket. (only!)

Need I love your goals. My new goals are:

1. to give up paypal and just keep my credit card by my computer so I always have a paper trail and timely itemised payment for everything.

2. Not to let any service provider make me "go paperless". If it wasn't for paper statements I'd have no idea whether any of that money had ever come back to me.

3. To fine tune my spreadsheets so that I properly check at the end of each month that the amount that I know I spent on stuff corresponds to the amount that my bank account and credit card show as the month's change. (not quite sure how yet)

That's great that they are doing all those checks Italian. Do babies tend to be very little in your family?

Italian I think you're right about complaining about the bank. I closed that account because the bank were clearly idiots. I wonder who I'm meant to complain to? Maybe I'll ask my financially competent relatives about that. It will change the subject nicely.

Good idea about the Paypal account Ipsos. I've just ordered a ruched skirt and a jumper from the Hush sale. The skirt was £15 down from £65 and the jumper £30 from £69, but sent them to work, too easy to 'click click'. However, it fulfils a frugal goal for August. DS will need jeans, DD nothing, DH work shirts I think.

I would be fighting for the £750. Don't be too hard on yourself. Life is busy, frugality and financial management do take time and organisation, we are often time poor.

Italian, a friend of mines daughter has just had a baby boy at 4lb8oz. Very small. They delivered him early for safety. It runs in the family. He's beautiful and healthy and well.

Scone dough pizza?

Food here is pretty on par with UK prices, just the labelling is so much more detailed and clear. The fresh fruit is wonderful, we've been snacking on huge chunks of pineapple and watermelon all day.

Ipso, -remember this is your business and don't feel you have to tell anyone you don't want to. Nobody else needs to know. It could happen to anyone. Definitely complain to both of your banks.

Collie, you have far more reasons to move than to stay, so don't put your life on hold for Brexit.

Welcome to dwinnol.

I definitely agree wrt Hedrin and nits. The comb every other day with lots of conditioner advice was very much promoted by DS's primary school and as I am a bit of a hippy at heart, I was happy to give it a try. Except after 3 MONTHS, the lice were still there. I was absolutely amazed that one dose of Hedrin saw them off, and touch wood, we haven't seen them for nearly 4 years.

Need, don't blame you!

Spends: £12 bus and £20 for a taxi home, as my mum treated us to dinner out and our last direct bus service had departed before we finished.